March in the Canadian Rockies

March is a good month up in the Canadian Rockies. It’s warming up, it snows more, and on a great season like this, the base is deep and the rocks all covered.

We arrived at Lake Louise with 4 inches of new reported. There was much more than 4 inches up high and in the back bowls though. It was consequently a day spent frolicking on steeps like the Ptarmigan Chutes that I’d never seen open before, and ripping through untracked lines in the glades between Ptarmigan and Paradise. Bumps, trees, chutes, light powder and Lake Louise scenery – a perfect day in the Rockies really.

Next was Sunshine, with a reported and accurate inch of new. It was darn cold, and by 11am it started dumping, with waves of massive snowfalls rolling in from across the valley. We’d get an hour of snow, 20 minutes of sun, another hour of snow, more sun. You get the picture.

We spent the whole afternoon on Goats Eye, with the powder building up on every run. Visibility up high was dodgy, but fine once you hit the tree line. Freefall was superb fall line bump skiing, and some of glades were in top condition, loaded with wind-blown snow.

Late in the afternoon, in a sunny break, I traversed around to the South Side Chutes for a cruise down ankle deep freshies on a 40+ degrees slope. A perfect way to end a day. Goats Eye has extensive, varied skiing, fast lift access and decent vertical off one chair. It’s a very fun place to visit indeed.